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\n \n\n \n23 March 2021
\n \n \n \nThe Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY (RECOVERY) trial was officially launched on 23 March 2020. It is the world's largest COVID-19 drug trial. Thanks to the ground-breaking work of RECOVERY, clinicians treating patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 now have two treatments that are known to improve survival.
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\n \n\n \n19 March 2021
\n \n \n \nMillions of children weighing less than 15kg are currently denied access to Ivermectin treatment due to insufficient safety data being available to support a change to the current label indication. The WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network\u2019s new meta-analysis provides evidence that supports removing this barrier and improving treatment equity.
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\n \n\n \n17 March 2021
\n \n \n \nResearchers have found that despite an ongoing trend for a decreasing proportion of males being enrolled in antileishmanial therapeutic efficacy trials over time, there are still 1.8 times as many males as females involved in clinical trials. A new systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that existing knowledge on drug efficacy is derived from a study population that is heavily skewed towards adult males. At the same time, substantially less is known about the optimal treatment response in female patients.
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\n \n\n \n16 March 2021
\n \n \n \nThe Medicine Quality Research Group has published a new Medical Product Quality Report focussing on increasing issues around substandard and falsified (SF) COVID-19 vaccines. With the implementation of the key innovations of COVID-19 vaccines, there have been growing numbers of reports of SF vaccines in the public domain. Given the vital role they will play in ending the pandemic and protecting the global population but severe issues with equitable access, SF vaccines are highly likely to be a growing problem.
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\n \n\n \n5 March 2021
\n \n \n \nEstablished to test a range of potential treatments for COVID-19, the RECOVERY trial has included a comparison of colchicine, an anti-inflammatory drug that is commonly used to treat gout, vs. usual care alone. There has been no convincing evidence of the effect of colchicine on clinical outcomes in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, and recruitment to the colchicine arm of the RECOVERY trial has now closed. Recruitment to all other treatment arms \u2013 aspirin, baricitinib, Regeneron\u2019s antibody cocktail, and dimethyl fumarate \u2013 continues as planned.
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\n \n\n \n22 February 2021
\n \n \n \nThe Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) Trial, the world\u2019s largest clinical trial for COVID-19 treatments, has now expanded internationally with Indonesia and Nepal among the first countries to join. The first patients have been recruited to RECOVERY International.
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\n \n\n \n12 February 2021
\n \n \n \nThe Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial has demonstrated that tocilizumab, an anti-inflammatory treatment, reduces the risk of death when given to hospitalised patients with severe COVID-19. The study also showed that tocilizumab shortens the time until patients are successfully discharged from hospital and reduces the need for a mechanical ventilator.
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\n \n\n \n12 February 2021
\n \n \n \nEvidence from a new study, initiated by the Primaquine Roll Out Group and conducted at WWARN, supports the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for use of 0.25mg/kg dose of primaquine (PQ) combined with artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACT) to block Plasmodium falciparum transmission.
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\n \n\n \n5 February 2021
\n \n \n \nThe WHO 2030 NTD Roadmap has just been launched, and a recent Geneva Health Forum panel took that as its starting point to discuss the possibility of eliminating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Professor Philippe Gu\u00e9rin, IDDO\u2019s Director, joined co-panellists Dr Amy Fall, the Global Health Medical for Africa Region Lead at Sanofi, Dr Mwele Malecela, Director of the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases at the WHO, and Dr Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft, Medical Director at Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) back in November 2020.
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\n \n\n \n3 February 2021
\n \n \n \nBaricitinib \u2013 an anti-inflammatory treatment for rheumatoid arthritis\u2013 is being investigated in the RECOVERY trial, the world\u2019s largest clinical trial of treatments for patients hospitalised with COVID-19, taking place in 177 hospital sites across the UK and with over 33,000 patients recruited so far. As an anti-inflammatory, baricitinib may block the signalling activity of cytokine molecules which contribute to the hyper-inflammatory state seen in severe COVID-19. It is thought that baricitinib may act also have some anti-viral activity. The other treatments currently being investigated in the RECOVERY trial are Regeneron\u2019s antibody cocktail, Aspirin and Colchicine.
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\n \n\n \n15 January 2021
\n \n \n \nConvalescent plasma has been widely used as a treatment for COVID-19 but to date there has been no convincing evidence of the effect of convalescent plasma on clinical outcomes in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Recruitment to the convalescent plasma arm of the RECOVERY trial has now closed. The preliminary analysis based on 1873 reported deaths among 10,406 randomised patients shows no significant difference in the primary endpoint of 28-day mortality. Recruitment to all other treatment arms \u2013 tocilizumab, aspirin, colchicine, and Regeneron\u2019s antibody cocktail \u2013 continues as planned.
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\n \n\n \n13 January 2021
\n \n \n \nA study to explore the variations of how microscopy methods are reported in published malaria studies has recommended standardised procedures should be implemented for methodological consistency and comparability of clinical trial outcomes.
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\n \n\n \n5 January 2021
\n \n \n \nThe first patients are being vaccinated as part of the UK\u2019s rollout of the Oxford / AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, at the Oxford University NHS Hospitals Trust. The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccinations will be delivered at a small number of hospitals for the first few days for surveillance purposes, as is standard practice, before the bulk of supplies are sent to hundreds of GP-led services later in the week.
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\n \n\n \n16 December 2020
\n \n \n \nSusie Dunachie joins a prestigious group of leading health researchers in the latest cohort of NIHR Global Research Professors. These awards fund research leaders of the future to promote effective translation of research and to strengthen health, public health and care research leadership at the highest academic levels. Research conducted by Global Research Professors directly benefits people in LMICs. A Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology, Susie works on the development of a vaccine to prevent death from melioidosis in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus in LMICs, and supports vaccine research in Thailand. Congratulations!
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\n \n\n \n15 December 2020
\n \n \n \nEstablished in March 2020, the RECOVERY trial tests a range of potential treatments for COVID-19, including azithromycin, a widely used antibiotic that also reduces inflammation. The azithromycin arm of the trial was established to determine whether or not the drug has a meaningful benefit among patients hospitalised with COVID-19. A preliminary analysis shows no significant difference in the primary endpoint of 28-day mortality; there was also no evidence of beneficial effects on the risk of progression to mechanical ventilation or length of hospital stay.
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\n \n\n \n11 December 2020
\n \n \n \nAfOx in collaboration with partners across the UK and Africa has received a Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund to establish an Africa Health Innovation Platform. The multi-disciplinary platform will support African innovators who develop new solutions to Africa\u2019s health challenges, bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, technologists, policymakers, and change leaders to develop new approaches towards prevention, early detection and treatment of diseases.
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\n \n\n \n7 December 2020
\n \n \n \nBlog by Rima Shretta. Preliminary efficacy results from three vaccine candidates currently in Phase 3 trials have shown an efficacy of more than 90% against the development of symptomatic COVID-19. While these results are promising, all vaccines are in relatively early stages of testing. A comprehensive and transparent roadmap is urgently needed, to determine how limited doses of the first vaccines to be licensed will be distributed, together with which groups will initially be prioritized.
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\n \n\n \n4 December 2020
\n \n \n \nBlog by Piero Olliaro, Josephine Bourner and Lakshmi Manoharan. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the limits of the current peer-review model, which is collapsing under the number of articles and volume of information, unable to cope with the conflicting needs for speed and quality of information. The peer review process is often slow, opaque, unaccountable and biased; it is now time to focus on tangible improvements, making transparency our top priority. We need a system reset, not tinkering in the margin.
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\n \n\n \n1 December 2020
\n \n \n \nA new study quantifying the high risk of Plasmodium vivax parasitaemia after treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria aims to identify populations in which a policy of universal radical cure, combining artemisinin-based combination therapy with a hypnozoitocidal antimalarial drug, would be most beneficial.
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\n \n\n \n11 November 2020
\n \n \n \nIn an effort to foster closer interactions and collaboration, CTMGH learned long ago to make the best of the plethora of communication tools available. In this era of video conferences, we are all familiar with the limitations of various 2D options. Could new technologies help us devise better communication to enhance collaboration and teaching opportunities? In an effort to find new solutions, a group of NDM staff visited London and interacted as a hologram with colleagues in Bangkok.
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